Indian cueists bag Asian title

India A, consisting of Kamal Chawla, Faisal Khan and Dharmender Lilly, won the Gold medal in the Asian Snooker Team championship here Saturday, defeating Pakistan A 3-1 in the final.

The Indian cueists outclassed the highly accomplished duo of Muhammad Asif, former IBSF World Snooker champion, and Muhammad Sajjad, former Asian champion, of Pakistan by 3 frames to 1 in the final.

Local favourites and title contenders Asif and Sajjad were subdued by the big breaks of Chawla and Khan.

In the semi-finals, India A thrashed Iran 3-1. The mighty Iranians, Amir Sarkosh and current World Under-21 champion Hossein Vafaei Ayouri were helpless against the aggressive display of snooker by Chawla and Khan.

Earlier, India A defeated Syria 3-2 in the quarter-finals while India B comprising Ketan Chawla, Varun Madan and Rahul Sachdev went down 1-3 to Pakistan A.